Solidaridad East and Central Africa delivered integrated support to small-scale producers, producer-led enterprises, and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises responding to the interconnected nature of their challenges. By focusing on both operational and financial efficiency, our initiatives addressed key needs. These included building farmer cooperative leadership and governance capacity, enhancing marketing skills, financing viable business cases like nurseries, facilitating access to essential inputs through service provider connections, and expanding financial inclusion, paving a pathway to sustainable growth.

As a result, service providers improved access – availability, accessibility, and affordability – to essential inputs and services for farmers and artisanal miners. This resulted in 207,169 farmers accessing critical inputs, engaging with service providers, or benefiting from vital services. Furthermore, by collaborating with farmer procedure organizations, Solidaridad optimized service delivery, reduced input costs through collective purchasing, and streamlined produce aggregation, empowering farmers to access more favorable markets and pricing.

Throughout the year, we strategically advanced access to finance for smallholder farmers and miners, recognizing the critical financial barriers these sectors face. Our efforts focused on three key areas: enhancing the investment readiness of producer enterprises through targeted capacity-building, facilitating vital linkages between producer groups and financial institutions, and promoting innovative financing mechanisms such as digital financial services and microfinance. 

We built investment readiness for four tanneries and 150+ farmer cooperatives through capacity-building and linkages with financial institutions. This directly resulted in outcomes like Bushika Integrated, a Ugandan cooperative, securing Ugx 277 million (66,630 Euro) in working capital. This funding enabled the cooperative to purchase and process a container of coffee for export, which facilitated coffee sales to premium European buyers, generating increased revenue and resulting in 6.2% better prices for farmers, positively impacting over 2,800 coffee farmers. Active cooperative membership also grew marginally from 1,889 to 2,015. We catalyzed transformative growth in 11 Tanzanian coffee cooperatives with Tshs 534 million (185,000 Euro) seed funding. Nine cooperatives established input shops, and two modernized processing, resulting in 5,417 new jobs for women and youth. These efforts enhanced economic independence, community resilience, and sustainable coffee systems.

Our capacity-building and support in the tea sector enabled the National Association for Women in Tea Uganda to secure a Ugx 98 million (23,708 Euro) grant from the Women Grow Fund, directly empowering women in the specialty tea production. The association also secured a partnership with PUM Netherlands to drive economic empowerment for women in the sector through value addition and market access. PUM’s support will facilitate the acquisition of tea processing machines, access to advanced training and markets, and financial empowerment through a women-led tea Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO). 

Sustained efforts to expand financial inclusion, particularly through Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), yielded results. In Ethiopia’s leather sector, VSLAs empowered women economically, facilitating the establishment of income-generating activities (poultry, livestock, and small businesses). In Tanzania’s coffee sector, 2,540 women in 75 VSLA groups successfully mobilized Tshs 943,841,500 (Euro 320,000). This capital enabled investments in sustainable practices, essential inputs, and diverse income-generating ventures, demonstrating the VSLA model’s effectiveness in driving financial inclusion for rural communities.

Technology accelerated transformation in all our focus supply chains, significantly enhancing market transparency and accessibility. Through our local food projects in Kenya, the Kenya National Farmers Federation Market Information System onboarded 336,375 farmers and 2,471 farmer groups, providing real-time access to crucial market trends, pricing, and trading opportunities. The Viazi Soko platform, managed by the National Potato Council of Kenya, connected 116,000 potato farmers with 218 service providers, including six seed companies, three fertilizer companies, five agrochemical companies, one soil testing provider, four potato processors and traders, one logistic company, 72 spray service providers, and 126 farm service providers. The platform, integrated with a web portal, mobile app, and USSD system, successfully improved digital marketing, information dissemination, and supply chain efficiency in the potato sector. 

Knowledge transfer remained a critical enabler for farmers and miners. Our projects employed a comprehensive approach, including the Trainer-of-Trainer model and practical demonstrations to provide direct access to best practices in agriculture and mining. In collaboration with the trainers-of-trainers, lead farmers, and gender champions, we ensured that knowledge and skills were embedded in communities. Field days, exchange visits, expos, and multi-stakeholder platforms served as vital hubs for collaborative knowledge exchange, fostering direct engagement between our farmers, and miners, industry experts, and peers and facilitating wider adoption of impactful solutions. Complementing these efforts, digital channels (such as bulk messaging) significantly expanded access to crucial market data, safety protocols, and sustainable practices, ensuring even remote communities were equipped with essential information. This multi-faceted approach to knowledge sharing acted as a powerful catalyst, enabling farmers and miners to enhance their livelihoods and contribute to sustainable resource management.